Indianapolis, Indiana – Patent lawyers for Dow AgroSciences LLC of Indianapolis, IN, and The Dow Chemical Company of Midland, MI, have filed a declaratory judgment lawsuit against Cooper Industries, LLC of Houston, TX, and Cooper Power Systems, Inc. of Waukesha, WI of Waukesha, WI, seeking a ruling that several patents, as issued by the U.S. Patent Office, are invalid and/or not infringed, including the following: Patent No. 5,736,915, titled HERMETICALLY SEALED, NON-VENTING ELECTRICAL APPARATUS WITH DIELECTRIC FLUID HAVING DEFINED CHEMICAL COMPOSITION; Patent No. 5,766,517, titled DIELECTRIC FLUID FOR USE IN POWER DISTRIBUTION EQUIPMENT; Patent No. 6,037,537, titled VEGETABLE OIL BASED DIELECTRIC COOLANT; and Patent No. 6,184,459, titled VEGETABLE OIL BASED DIELECTRIC COOLANT.
The complaint states that Dow is in the process of developing and commercializing natural oils, including canola oil-based fluids, for use in electrical equipment such as transformers. The patents at issue generally relate to transformer systems and the use of vegetable oils with them. Dow alleges that the transformer fluids it is developing do not infringe these patents and that, in any event, the patents are invalid in light of the prior art and under 35 U.S.C. 112.
This case has been assigned to Judge Sarah Evans Barker and Magistrate Judge Tim A. Baker in the Southern District of Indiana, and assigned case no. 1:10-cv-00039-SEB-TAB.
Practice Tip: Prior art is a patent law term which generally means the previous state of the art and encompasses all information that was disclosed to the public before the date of an invention and which might be relevant to the invention’s patentability; it includes patents and technical articles, among other things, and newly-found prior art may suffice as grounds to invalidate an issued patent.Complaint – Dow v. Cooper
Further information about this case is as follows:
Filed: January 12, 2010 as 1:2010cv00039 Updated: April 6, 2010 11:52:28
Presiding Judge:Judge Sarah Evans Barker
Referring Judge:Magistrate Judge Tim A. Baker
Cause Of Action: Patent Infringement
Seventh Circuit > Indiana > Southern District Court
Type:Intellectual Property > Patent